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The cryptocurrency market has continued to fall over the past 24 hours, after seeing a decline of more than $40 billion on May 11. The bitcoin price fell to $8,250 while the majority of tokens recorded losses in the 20 percent range.
UPbit + Mt. Gox
On May 11, CCN reported that UPbit, South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, was raided and investigated by local police, the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (KIU) and Financial Services Commission (FSC).
The two-day raid at the UPbit headquarters led local investors in the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange market to panic sell, eventually affecting the global cryptocurrency market.
The UPbit case coincided with the movement of more than 8,000 bitcoins from the Mt. Gox trustee, who previously stated that he will not sell any more of its funds until September of this year. The sudden sale of the Mt. Gox trustee funds and the unexpected investigation into UPbit led the entire cryptocurrency market to demonstrate a daily loss of $30 billion, from $400 billion to $370 billion.
Last week, the cryptocurrency market peaked at $470 billion, as tokens such as Ziliqa (ZIL) and 0x (ZRX) along with both bitcoin and Ethereum recorded gains in the 5 to 40 percent range. Since then, the cryptocurrency market has recorded a loss of $100 billion, within a seven-day period. The market lost more than 20 percent of its value over the past week.
Large-scale investors and analysts including Fundstrat’s Tom Lee and CNBC Fast Money’s Brian Kelly have expressed their optimism towards the short-term trend of the bitcoin price given the start of the Blockchain Week in New York marked by the opening of Consensus 2018, the largest cryptocurrency conference in which institutional investors, cryptocurrency startups, developers, and traders come together.
Earlier this week, BKCM founder Brian Kelly said on CNBC’s Fast Money that he was shocked investors did not push the valuation of the cryptocurrency market upwards after reports about the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) were released.
“I’m actually a bit shocked that the market did not pick up on this. Dominic Chu of CNBC said that investors will get physical delivery of bitcoin. That doesn’t sound that interesting except for the fact that it means ICE Exchange has a custody solution. That has been the big hurdle. How do you hold onto these assets. These are generally bear instruments, just like gold bearer bonds. That’s the big deal. They have come up with a custody solution for institutional holders,” said Kelly.
With the Blockchain Week starting in May 15, the entrance of Goldman Sachs and NYSE into the cryptocurrency market, and the rising interest of institutional investors for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum, investors have expected the market to surge in the short-term.
However, several events including the Mt. Gox sale and the UPbit case led the cryptocurrency market to slump over the past five days.
Where Does the Market go From Here
The cryptocurrency market has declined by more than 20 percent over the past week. But, given the upcoming events including the Blockchain Week in New York, it is likely that the market will see a recovery in volume across major exchanges, allowing the market to rebound.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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